Canadiens 3, Bruins 1: Meltdown at the Garden

The Bruins had a jittery start and made key defensive mistakes at the wrong times.

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By Dan CagenDaily News staff

MetroWest Daily News, Framingham, MA

By Dan CagenDaily News staff

Posted May. 14, 2014 at 10:19 PM
Updated May 15, 2014 at 11:37 AM

By Dan CagenDaily News staff

Posted May. 14, 2014 at 10:19 PM
Updated May 15, 2014 at 11:37 AM

» Social News

BOSTON — They'd come back so many times, from far bigger and more difficult deficits than what they had to overcome Wednesday. Heck, they'd done it just two weekends ago to this same team.

But this wasn’t the same team that had pulled out a miracle against the Maple Leafs, or the one that won three Game 7s in 2011 to claim the Stanley Cup. There was no Dennis Seidenberg, no Andrew Ference, no Adam McQuaid. There were four young defensemen instead, guys who had played a combined two Game 7s.

And it showed.

The Bruins had a jittery start and made key defensive mistakes at the wrong times. It didn’t help that Zdeno Chara was off his game, and Patrice Bergeron made a crucial mistake. The Bruins watched the hated Canadiens earn their respect with a 3-1 Game 7 victory at TD Garden on Wednesday night.

A Presidents’ Trophy-winning season, one that they had every expectation of ending in June, was over on the second Wednesday of May, a Stanley Cup left just 7/16th full.

"We had a lot of first-year players in our lineup, and you could see tonight that there was a lot of nervousness," coach Claude Julien said.

The Canadiens are off to the Eastern Conference finals against the Rangers. The Bruins, who might have had Seidenberg back by then had they won, had won four of the last five Game 7s they played, but they didn’t look like a team ready for the spotlight.

"We’ve got a lot of experience, but we’ve also got a lot of young guys," Brad Marchand said. "It doesn’t matter who you are, it’s always a little nerve-wracking stepping into a Game 7."

It was the mistakes of the kids that were costly. Matt Bartkowski stood in front of the crease and stared at the puck, as surprised as anyone when Dale Weise came backdoor just 2:18 into the game, and the Habs were off to another early lead. Kevan Miller went for a big hit on Brendan Gallagher in the second period, and was out of position when a Bergeron turnover gave the Habs a 2-on-1 and Max Pacioretty cashed in.

"I thought we had it," said Bergeron, who fanned on his attempted clear. "I didn't gamble on that play. It was just, I really thought we had it."

For a team that used to be clean in its own zone, it was mistake after mistake. After taking a 3-2 series lead, the Bruins gagged away the final two games by a cumulative 7-1 score.

"You always try to get better as the series goes on. I don’t think this was the case for us," said goalie Tuukka Rask after making 15 saves. "Defensively, I think the last two games we made some uncharacteristic mistakes and that ended up costing us the series. It’s not that it’s anybody’s fault, we just couldn’t step up and play our game as a team."

Page 2 of 2 - And the Habs did. Montreal again dominated the lead time, Carey Price, with 29 saves Wednesday, allowed one goal in the final two games. The Canadiens were ahead for 115:31 of the final two games.

Plus the Canadiens used every slight against them as motivation. They openly talked about the Bruins disrespecting them, from Torey Krug and Milan Lucic pounding their chests early in the series to Lucic flexing his muscles in Game 5 and Shawn Thornton squirting a water bottle at P.K. Subban at the end of the same game.

Weise said Lucic was unprofessional in the customary handshake line at the end of the game, making threatening remarks.

"It was said on the ice, so it’ll stay on the ice," Lucic said. "So if he wants to be a baby about it, he can make it public."

As for the disrespectful acts, Lucic dismissed that.

"Disrespect? I don’t know what they’re talking about, disrespect," a fired-up and angry Lucic said. "Having a goal celebration, what kind of disrespect is that?"

Regardless of who said what and disrespected whom, the Bruins were still in this game. Even after Pacrioretty’s goal made it 2-0 at 10:22 of the second, Iginla deflected in a Krug shot with 2:02 left in the second. Memories of Game 7 against the Maple Leafs, one year and one day prior, were dancing in the minds of all 17,565 packed into the Garden. But the Canadiens are not the Maple Leafs, and Price is not James Reimer.

The Habs did not fold.

The Bruins couldn’t complete either, Iginla hitting an 11th Boston post in the series with 15:45 left. The 36-year-old Iginla is an unrestricted free agent this summer.

"This was a lot of fun," Iginla said. "This is a great group. This is probably the best chance I've had with a group. This is very hard to take."

The Habs clinched it with 2:53 left, a Daniel Briere shot ricocheting off Chara’s skate and into the net. It was oddly fitting after Chara played an oddly ineffective final two games.

The Bruins’ season was over. The Causeway Street ice will be melted long before June.

"You win the Presidents’ Trophy and you do have some high expectations for yourself," Bergeron said. "And that’s how it’s been here for a while now. And definitely far from being where we would have liked to go, and definitely not happy with the result."

Dan Cagen can be reached at 508-626-3848 or dcagen@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanCagen.